Bats roosting in buildings are often killed or displaced using inhumane methods, when low-cost exclusion techniques can humanely resolve the conflict while preserving bat populations.
Bats trapped in buildings following improper exclusion die from starvation, dehydration, and hyperthermia over multiple days. Exclusion during maternity season causes pup death by starvation when mothers cannot re-enter. Pesticide application to roosts causes prolonged toxic death. All of these outcomes are preventable through timing exclusion to non-maternity periods, using one-way exclusion devices, and installing replacement bat housing. Given the ecological value of insectivorous bats and the rapid decline of many species, protecting bat roosts while managing human-bat conflict serves both welfare and conservation goals.